Climate Resource View (CRV): A case of thermal safety at United States national parks

Abstract

This study introduces Climate Resource View (CRV), explicitly recognizing climate resources within Resource-Based Theory as valuable, rare, and inimitable dependent on time and geographic location. Climate resources—a natural resource type—are bundles of meteorological variables of verifiable importance to a firm's performance. The focal climate resource is thermal safety operationalized as Wet Bulb Global Temperature (WBGT). WBGT is an equation that captures cloud cover/solar radiation, humidity, temperature, sun angle, and windspeed. The equation is unique compared to climate indices for tourism, because there are prescribed levels for when outdoor recreation is safe or dangerous. CRV is operationalized matching thermal safety with recreational visits at United States 63 designated national parks sorted into 11 climate zones. Results demonstrate that the focal climate resource (i.e., thermal safety): (1) is of value to recreational visits, both positive and negative, (2) is becoming rarer and inimitable, and (3) the most adverse risk conditions are in lower latitude and western regions of the United States.